


the gears of fate stop moving

by managician



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bittersweet Ending, M/M, One Shot, Time Loop, it's basically a kagerou daze inspired au, set on EP37, so if you know the song... you know what's up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 11:29:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19375816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/managician/pseuds/managician
Summary: He should've been able to react faster, to take that last step just a bit quicker and push Yuya out of the way.But he wasn't. Not the first time, at least.





	the gears of fate stop moving

**Author's Note:**

> Written for day 26 of the ARC V Anniversary, with the prompt "Cycle". I've had this idea for a while and the prompt was perfect to put it in motion, so...
> 
> As I mentioned on the tags, it's a AU inspired by the song Kagerou Daze. If you want you can check out the song with the subbed PV [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1dSOJTmFWg).  
> The basic gist is that a boy and a girl are hanging out, but the girl ends up in a truck crash accident and then the boy wakes up a morning before she died, thus trying over and over to find a way to save her, with time resetting again when he's unsuccessful.
> 
> I wouldn't say it's really necessary to listen to the song before you read this, but it'd probably help a bit :D  
> Enjoy the read!

It all happens in the blink of a second.

It's laughable, almost. Yuto's grown used to be alert, to be ready to run and duel endlessly until his body hurts so much that he can barely move. He should've been able to pull it off; he should've been able to react faster, to take that last step just a bit quicker, to push Yuya out of the way because  _ he didn't want to hurt anyone anymore. _

But he wasn't. Not this time. Not the time that mattered.

“Yuya!” he calls out, stretches his hand towards him. As if that'll help. 

He's barely aware of the Life Points on his Duel Disk entirely depleting; the beeping sound of defeat is jarring and unfamiliar. He only catches a glimpse of Yuya's body before the shockwave forces him to close his eyes and throws him off balance, but he does not miss the scared scream that follows.

When Yuto is finally capable of lifting his gaze up, he sees Yuya laying on the ground, completely unmoving, and something inside him breaks.

Even though his knees feel wobbly and there's a loud pulsing in his head, his legs act on autopilot; he's standing up and rushing to the teen's side without having realised it.

“Yuya,” he kneels down next to him, urgency lacing his voice. “Are you okay?” he tries shaking his shoulders and grits his teeth when there's no response. 

And then Yuya's Duel Disk starts shining brightly, with a blue gleam that makes his sight burn. Yuto gasps as his Dark Rebellion shines in resonance, the gentle light enveloping them in a warm embrace.

It's confusing — but Yuya's eyes slowly crack open, and the light becomes a minor afterthought.

“Yuya!” he cries out with worry as his look-alike makes a pained face. He did receive Clear Wing's attack head-on…

With all the gentleness Yuto can manage, he lifts Yuya's head and pulls him closer towards his chest, trembling hands struggling to keep a grip.

“Hold on, it's going to be okay,” Yuto says, even though an uncomfortable nagging at his heart tells him that it won't. He's somewhat familiar with Miami City's streets by now and even though he's severely hurt, carrying Yuya to the hospital should be doable.

It has to be. It has to be…

“Yuto. You're… okay…” Yuya looks up to him, smiling weakly. “I'm glad…”

His eyes look glassy and unfocused, ruby red wavering as it meets concerned gray.

Yuto shakes his head in distress. “Yuya— Yuya, stay with me,”

He can't lose him.

Not him too.

Yuya keeps the gentle smile on his face as unsteady fingers reach out to grab a card from his deck. 

“It's okay… Here— take this, Yuto…”

How can he refuse? He nods sadly, fingers brushing with Yuya's as he picks Odd-Eyes up. 

His hand feels so cold.

“Make people smile, Yuto… okay? If you keep fighting… I'm sure you'll be able to…”

He doesn't finish the sentence. A bright light shines around them once again, as the night wind carries an ominous laughter with it, cackling at the tragedy without another care in the world.

(Yuzu never gets to the park.)

 

...

 

Yuto wakes up.

There's a familiar weariness in his eyelids, no doubt due to a lack of good sleep, and his arms and back feel stiff because he's been resting against the wall of some clunky building. 

The sunbeams are kind of warm and soothing, though, so it must be late morning already…

He narrows his eyebrows at that. 

Morning…? 

For some reason that simply doesn't sound… right, but he can't really pinpoint the exact cause. It's a vague feeling of discomfort that refuses to leave him alone. 

Sighing, he pushes himself up, removing the dust from the cape he'd been using as a blanket. He subconsciously checks his deck; it's entirely an automatic gesture. Of course, nobody decided to try and rob him at night, as it has the same forty cards plus the several XYZ Monsters he runs.

He stares at Dark Rebellion with a puzzled look. It's just his same old deck, yet it also feels wrong. What, was he expecting a new card to pop up out of thin air?...

Yuto shakes his head, already deciding that today he just got up on the wrong side of the bed (or, well, ground) and that's why nothing seems to make sense. It's easier to do that.

The Duel Disk's display marks that it's the day where Shun and Sora Shiunin fight each other. Yuto wants to keep a low profile, so it's not like he can go to the stadium and cheer for his friend, but he'll be supporting him nevertheless.

Although, he has to admit he's interested in seeing the tactics from his opponent. He's one of Academia's soldiers, Yuto's been a witness to that; and yet he claims to be an Entertainment Duelist. 

Ridiculous. As if someone from vile, cruel, merciless Academia would know how to…

_ Make people smile, Yuto… _

Yuto freezes.

He can feel his heart ramming loudly against his chest. Even if he doesn't recognize who it belongs to, the soft voice still manages to sound familiar and… Close. Too close…

He turns around to check his surroundings — there's no one. He's all alone in the narrow street.

So where did that voice come from? Who was talking to him and why did they know his name?

He briefly considers it might have been Yuzu, though it makes no sense for her to be here and her speaking tone was lighter than what he heard, so the option is quickly discarded. Shun can't really come and contact him now…

And neither of them would try to hide from him, to begin with. Nobody else in Standard knows his name as far as he's concerned… He's all out of candidates, then.

Yuto sighs. Another question going unsolved. It's going to be a long day.

He aimlessly wanders throughout Miami City for a while and catches a bit of Shun's speech during the duel — it is not until Yuto goes to confront Shiunin that his day gets to see any kind of action.

Not that he was looking forward to it. In fact, he would've rather avoided the conflict, but Shiunin's stubborn and  _ he is _ from Academia, after all, so Yuto doesn't feel that bad when they inevitably face off. 

He does feel bad when a friend of his, who clearly doesn't have a clue of what's going on, interrupts the duel in his behalf. 

The discomfort that has been bothering him all day comes back, stronger than ever, to the point it's frankly distracting him from dueling. 

Somehow he and this guy share a face — but Yuto realises, much to his surprise, that he's not really shocked at all. And if the boy's reactions are something to go by, he's not, either.

When he summons Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, the world seems to come into a halt. Yuto's heart burns in pain and anticipation and a dark alluring feeling that he's unable to put a name to. His Dark Rebellion and Yuya's Odd-Eyes call out to each other; Yuto doesn't understand why, but they sound like they're crying.

He's only somewhat aware of what happens in the duel after that, the scorching sensation still numbing his senses. Shiunin gets transported back to Academia and Yuya angrily demands answers about his friend's whereabouts, or why this whole battle happened in the first place.

Yuto tells him what he knows, about the Dimensions, Heartland and Academia. Granted, there's a lot of knowledge he's missing, though the explanation seems satisfying enough for Yuya.

“I don't really get this at all, but… Dueling shouldn't be used as a tool for conflict. That's just wrong…”

Yuto’s eyes widen a bit. Yuya'd been practically yelling up until now, his voice is suddenly so calm and…

“Yuto…?” Yuya asks when the boy keeps silent — and then gasps, apparently having a realisation of his own.

Yuto blinks slowly as he puts two and two together. It's the very same soft voice he heard when he woke up.

He looks at Yuya, really  _ looks _ at him, and Yuto's face darkens with fear when all he can see is a flash of a blast and a tearful smile, sweetly whispering that it's okay even when it's obvious it's not.

It's… Whatever that is, he doesn't want to see it happen.

“...Yuya,” Yuto finally acknowledges, stepping down from the stage and towards the boy.

When they're face to face, close enough, Yuto can appreciate all the small differences between them. Yuya's eyes and features look gentler than his, not hardened throughout years of war. 

It doesn't just look that way; his skin really is smoother, as Yuto's able to tell when he caresses Yuya's cheek with his own rough fingertips. He doesn't know why he's doing it, but it feels nice and he doesn't want to stop and Yuya's not complaining.

He’s just a bit taller than Yuya, though it might be thanks to the small heels of his shoes. Yuya's also slimmer; though he isn't lacking in muscles, they're not as accentuated as his. It wouldn't be any trouble for Yuto to lift and spin him in the air if he tried.

And...

Yuya shows his emotions way more openly than Yuto ever could. Like right now — he's staring at him with all the concern in the world, even though Yuto's just a stranger to him and he has no need to worry about whatever he might be going through.

Yuya opens his mouth, then closes it, thinks better, opens it again and ends up closing it again, blushing a bit.

“Have we…?” he struggles to start.

“...Met before?” Yuto ends the sentence for him, finally dropping his raised hand back to his side.

Yuya looks at him with bewilderment, giving a small nod.

“How did you know what I wanted to ask?”

“I… Didn't,” Yuto admits, the tiniest bit of embarrassment flushing through his cheeks. He tried to sound so confident, even though he's as lost as Yuya is. "But somehow, I felt like…"

“Oh. Um…” Yuya seems to struggle again, finally settling in for a smile to cover up his utter confusion. “This is really weird, huh?”

Yuto could point out that there are other weird things to think about as well — the fact that they both have the same face and dragons that seemed to connect with each other, for example.

He doesn't. The sense of dejà vú is much more worrying anyway. 

“I feel like I know you, kind of…” he hesitantly continues, before shaking his head with a frown. “This doesn't make any sense, does it? Sorry.”

Yuto can't prevent a rueful smile from appearing on his face, matching Yuya's sad one. “My whole day hasn't made any sense. I don't really mind, and I feel… I feel it, too.”

Yuya's right. It is weird; the way they're talking to each other so comfortably, as if they've been together for a lifetime instead of having met each other roughly ten minutes ago. 

Or how just… Reaching out for Yuya's cheek felt like the right thing to do… And how Yuya himself hadn't done anything to push him away.

In fact, to his surprise, Yuya takes a step closer, making them stand mere centimeters away from each other. The boy stares at him as if he's trying to figure something out, a wave of sadness eventually crossing through crimson eyes. 

Yuto feels his stomach immediately drop at the sight. The urge to comfort him is so strong that, without thinking, he wraps his arms around the boy's frame and pulls him close. 

He only realises how absurd and awkward the gesture is a few seconds later, but thankfully Yuya's body relaxes against his chest, head resting on his shoulder with a sigh.

"Thank you," he breathes out, voice so tender that Yuto's heart skips a beat.

He doesn't get a chance to dawdle on that feeling — a green spark fills the area, and soon enough he's too busy dueling the Pawn of Fusion to even consider what's going on with Yuya and him.

He keeps telling Yuya to stay away; the boy seems adamantly insistent on meddling on a battle that doesn't involve him, and Yuto himself is insistent on not letting him get involved, attempting to ignore the anxious knot forming on his stomach.

It is not until Yuya's right in front of him, trying to stop Clear Wing's attack, that Yuto finally  _ understands _ . 

He cries— reaches out his hand towards Yuya, maybe this time he'll be able to—

It's too late. He's still not fast enough.

“Yuya,” Yuto whispers sadly as he cradles him into his arms. “Why…”

Why does it have to be him?

And Yuya smiles, like he must've done so many times already, pushing past the pain and the anguish.

“It's okay, Yuto,”

“It's not!” Yuto cries out. “It's… It's not…”

Yuya tries to lift his hand to wipe Yuto's unshed tears away, but the strength is quickly abandoning his body and it's hard to look at him.

His vision becomes blurry, colors mixing together in a whirlwind of faded purple and black.

“I'm sorry,” it's the last thing he can say.

So much for smiling… He's crying, too.

 

...

 

The next time, Yuto wakes up in a rush, a nightmare of an explosion and a broken grin having toyed with his mind.

He rubs his face tiredly. There's a faint headache pounding on his temples, and his eyes burn when he tries to look up, as if he's been weeping for a long time. Which is… Confusing, to say the least.

At least it's still a good time to wake up, as the sun is barely up in the sky. Yuto's always been an early bird; the stillness of the world on the first morning hours is comforting and gives him time to relax.

He decides to stretch for a bit, feeling much better once his limbs regain some flexibility. 

_ See, Yuto? For Entertainment Duelists, it's important to stretch before performances… _

He breathes in the spring city air. It's much neater than Heartland's heavy and polluted atmosphere, and it manages to give him some sort of inner peace.

He's not, worried per se about Shun's duel today, he just hopes his opponent won't try to rile him up in public. In insight, that's probably too much of a wishful thinking, but still.

Of course, the Duel doesn't go well; at least he'd kind of expected that.

It's when he duels Shiunin and Yuya that everything comes crashing down again. The moment he stares into Yuya's eyes the nightmare comes back, so vividly painful that it's nearly impossible to focus on playing his cards. 

It wasn't just a nightmare, was it?

“What… happened to Sora…?” Yuya mutters in shock when the boy vanishes into thin air.

Yuto doesn't answer. Without any warning, he takes the Deck out of his disk, giving up the duel entirely. Yuya looks none the wiser, but he copies his gesture.

“What's going on?” he demands.

Yuto steps down and, again, doesn't answer. 

There's something more important that he has to do…

“Hey! Are you going to say anything or not?” Yuya insists, not happy about his look-alike's silence.

“Yuya,” Yuto simply says, gaze softening as he gets close to him and takes a hold of his wrist. “...Shouldn't you go home?”

“...Huh?”

He definitely wasn't expecting that.

“It's late. Your… Family must be worried.”

Yuto bites his lip.

“I promise I'll explain everything later,” he swiftly reassures, the lie easily slipping out. “So, for now…”

Yuya tenses up out of nowhere, just at the same time a figure shielding him from a blast flashes through Yuto's mind.

He tightens his grip a bit. He won't see that happen — he'll protect Yuya this time.

This time…?

“...Okay,” Yuya ends up agreeing without putting up any resistance. 

Yuto doesn't let go of his arm as they walk across Miami City's streets with a brisk pace. He's not sure of how much time they have. He needs to make sure Yuya will be okay.

“It's — that way,” Yuya points towards a block of houses. “If I cross this road, I'll be right there…”

Yuya gives a quick look at his wrist, which Yuto is still firmly grabbing. After an awkward pause, the Dark Duelist finally drops his hold.

“Come on, go,” 

"...You'll follow me, right?" Yuya bites his lip. "You promised."

"Of course."

Yuya nods dubiously, lingering close to Yuto for a few seconds before finally giving a tiny smile and crossing to the other side of the sidewalk.

Yuto's acutely aware that he hasn't explained anything, and he feels only a bit sorry for lying to Yuya. The least he knows about him, the better. He can't drag someone else into this.

He hastily turns around and breaks into a walk without looking back, but he forces himself to stop when his good hearing picks up a distant, mechanical buzz. He knows it, it's the sound of...

“Yuto! Wait!” Yuya yells, already running back towards him, having figured out Yuto's leaving.

“Yuya! Don't—!”

Yuto doesn't get to finish. He can only watch, mouth hanging open in shock, as the Pawn of Fusion's motorbike crashes against Yuya at full speed, slamming him on the concrete.

“Holy shit, what… what the…” The boy riding the bike takes his helmet off, eyes widening in horror when he understands what happened. “O-Oh— Oh my god…”

The loud crash seemingly alerts some neighbours in the zone, because people are suddenly surrounding the road and there's someone making a phone call and a blonde adult woman is crouching down next to Yuya's body and bailing her eyes out.

Yuto's glazed eyes never stop looking at Yuya's face, for as long as he can keep them open before he passes out.

Why is he smiling?...

 

...

 

_ “Hey, hey, Yuto,” _

_ “Mhm?” _

_ “What's your favorite season?” _

_ He ponders it for a bit. “Spring, maybe?” _

_ “Really? I thought you'd like autumn or winter more… You look like the type.” _

_ “And what about you? You… You look like you'd like spring too." _

_ A sad, melancholic smile and a shake of the head. “Not at all… I think I kinda hate it.” _

 

“Are you awake?”

“Hngh,” is all Yuto says, squeezing his eyes shut a bit more.

The voice laughs; footsteps can be heard, and then someone sits on the edge of the bed and runs their fingers through Yuto's head, adoringly fiddling with strands of dark rebel hair.

Yuto feels like throwing up. The hands are exactly like  _ his _ , gentle and loving and trying to take all the pain away, but it's not  _ him _ .

“It's okay if you want to take longer. We're not short on time, of all things…”

He doesn't want to listen to this sickly sweet voice. He… He wants...

“Yuya…” Yuto whines.

“Yes?”

“Give Yuya back…”

“What are you talking about?” the voice asks, daring to sound clueless. “I'm right here.”

Yuto buries his face in his pillow, slapping the hand away.

“...If you really want him back, then save him,” the owner of the voice shrugs, like it's the easiest thing in the world.

“I can't. Nothing works. He always tries to protect me, and if I try to run away…”

He's been trying that for too long. Maybe it really is a hopeless cause. 

It's not like he's ever even had the power to save anyone, has he? Not Ruri, and not Yuya. Not even himself.

But giving up also means that Yuya will give up his own life for his sake. He can't allow that to happen.

“Staying in your head is fine, but it's not going to solve anything, you know.”

“Leave me alone.”

“I can't. I'm you, after all,"

“It's all your fault…”

The figure smirks. “Is it really? Who were the two idiots who fought each other in the first place?”

Yuto doesn't talk back to that.

(The voice is right, after all. It always is.)

He tries not fighting Shiunin, one time.

Shun gets mad — madder at him for not taking this chance, but Yuto bottles it up and simply hopes that he'll be able to avoid both the Academia soldier and the Pawn of Fusion for the time being.

A few days later, he's told by a sick with worry Yuzu that both Shiunin and Yuya have disappeared. It doesn't take much to put it together.

(He hopes Yuya will forgive him for hurting his friend.)

“I won't duel you,” Yuto decides to stand his ground.

The Pawn of Fusion clenches his fists. “Why the hell not!?” 

“Is Yugo that strong? Are you hurt from the duel with Sora, Yuto?” Yuya questions with sweet concern, lightly tapping his shoulder.

Yugo turns to look at Yuya, sudden interest reflected in his crystal blue eyes.

“And who are you?” 

“Uh, um…” Yuya stutters as if he's been caught red-handed, preemptively taking a step back, hiding behind Yuto's cloak.

In turn, Yuto takes a step forward, adopting a protective stance. The Pawn of Fusion smirks coldly — 

“Don't even think about it,” Yuto growls.

“Hey, I’m not that kind of person. But if you won't fight,” Yugo turns his D-Wheeler towards Yuya, “I guess I'll just fight him instead. How does that sound?”

Yuto grits his teeth, glancing intermittently between Yuya and the other look-alike, reluctantly putting his Duel Disk back on.

“Stay back, Yuya,” 

And so they duel, but Yuya doesn't heed his instruction and Yugo's never gotten the hang of the concept of braking, anyway.

...

Yuya never stops smiling.

Yuto never stops trying.

It hurts.

“Why do you keep saving me!?” Yuto asks one time, when Yuya's already laying on his arms and awaiting his doom, weakened through a crystal dragon's rage.

“I don't know,” Yuya answers. “You've been hurt so much… Why do you want to save me?”

“Because… Because you…” 

He's everything Yuto is not. Sunny, warm, caring. Someone worth fighting for. Someone worth protecting. Someone worth… caring for… 

“You're… All of that for me, too.”

Yuto doesn't know if he'd been talking out loud, or if Yuya just knew him that well.

_ “You’re someone worth loving, Yuto,” _

 

...

 

And then Yuto wakes up once more.

He wordlessly stares up at the bright blue sky, leaning back against the building's wall. The sun's all the way up, but Yuto doesn't feel any warmth coming from it. He's pretty confident that he got some sleep, and yet he’s so tired that he's not sure if that's true.

It's all cold and dull. 

And lonely.

He stays put on the ground. Even though he knows he should get moving, he can't be bothered enough. He wants to go back to sleep.

Sighing and gathering all his nonexistent willpower, he pushes himself upright. He knows today won't be a good day.

But… He can't give up. Not yet, not when he knows there's someone he has to protect.

He thinks about it. Thinks about it hard, really hard, and comes to the obvious conclusion.

Shun has Reiji Akaba's assistance. He'll be able to save Ruri on his own.

Yuto would hate leaving when they're not on good terms, but he hopes his friend will eventually understand. It's something he has to do.

He makes up his mind. He can't run from the battle; he already tried that… Doesn't mean that he can't change its end.

So this time there are no regrets. Not a single bit of delay or hesitation as he takes the step forward, as he stretches his hand towards Yuya's body.

He reaches him, giving him a push on the shoulder with all his might — Yuya falls to the side, away from the blast's direct range.

Yuto grins mockingly at fate as his body takes the hit.

“Yuto!” 

Yuya's at his side in a mere matter of seconds, gently making his head rest on his arm. Yuto can feel his strength fading; his whole body feels lighter and he's struggling to keep his eyelids from drooping closed.

And yet he feels happy. It's odd, feeling happy when you're about to die, isn’t it? 

He still smiles, finally knowing what Yuya must have felt like all this time.

It's okay like this. He's okay with this, but he needs to know that Yuya will be, too.

So he tells him to bring smiles to people with his power. He managed to make Yuto feel happy so many times, even now; he knows he can do it with everyone else.

Yuya grabs Dark Rebellion's card and clutches it to his chest, along with his pendulum. Yuto's sorry for entrusting him with such a burden; though Yuya's really strong, and he has many friends with him.

Yuto trusts him. It'll be okay. 

This time, it really will be.

And as the last bits of himself vanish, Yuto finally  _ feels _ again. He'll still stay by Yuya's side, no matter what...

He doesn't get to hear Yuya's last words before everything goes black.

( _I was supposed to save you…_ ) 

 

...

 

It takes Yuya two days to wake up. 

Yoko and Yuzu look so relieved; Yuzu's practically ready to hug him to death and Yoko is trying to be strong for all of them, but it's obvious they're both hurt.

Yuya tries to speak — and stops dead on his tracks when he sees the black card on his nightstand. 

His eyes immediately fill with tears.

“Yuya? Yuya, what's wrong?”

“I… I failed him again…”

And he breaks down into a sob.

(The darkness laughs as the light weeps — it's bound to start all over again.

_ Is this what you wanted, – —? _ )


End file.
